Not everybody and I don't think that was my aim. But I didn't come from a wealthy background, so watching everybody with nice cars and houses... I wanted that.

Do you remember the first time?

I remember my first memory is sitting in my dad's chair in a small office and I used to imagine that I was picking up the phone and issuing commands. And I was only seven. The first proper business I ever did was a tennis academy. All my friends were doing paper rounds and milk rounds but I loved tennis so I went to help a coach in the summer holidays, studied what he did for three years, then set up a business when I was 16. I then set up a computer business at 18 and when I was 29 I lost everything.

Why?

My own stupid mistakes and errors caused it. I had a beautiful house, I was married, two kids, BMW, Porsche, all the trappings. But through taking my eye off the ball and not taking out credit insurance I went from that to not even having a house or car.

Deal or no deal?

Deal. One of the best deals I've done was setting up a telecoms company in 2000 when everyone said "don't do this." I sold it for multimillions within 18 months. That's a good deal. As for Dragons' Den deals, I've got iTeddy, one of the bestselling products in Argos now, which will probably sell a million teddys soon. We've already made over a million pounds. And then there's the Reggae Reggae Sauce from Levi Roots...

Who is he and what is he to you?

Whenever I invest, I invest in the person as well as the business. I liked the sauce but I liked Levi. I got him the deal at Sainsbury's and now there's nearly 2m bottles sold. He's outsold tomato ketchup in certain months - obviously Heinz didn't like that!

What's new, pussycat?

American Inventor, a show I came up with launched in 2006. It's all of America's greatest and wackiest inventions rolled into one with a judging panel including the legendary George Foreman. The production team thought I was the only judge that needed 24/7 armed security, so maybe I was the Mr Nasty!

What are we fighting for?

None of the tension you see between us on Dragons' Den is made up. It's a bit wearing and annoying when you're working with one or two idiots. Actually idiot is an unfortunate word, but it's well known that Duncan and I don't see eye to eye. He doesn't have much time for me. The difference is, I just don't care. I liked James, he was a nice guy and the best new dragon we've had. He has the most incredibly bad dress sense. He thinks he looks classy and fashionable but he looks like a second hand jumble sale of old Elton John clothes. I don't understand his investment strategy either to be honest. Would you invest in a dog treadmill?

Bass (how low can you go)?

Next time you watch Dragons' Den, look at Theo's chair. He's so small they have to screw attachments to his chair legs. Seriously.

How clean is your house?

Very clean because I've got a housekeeper. And if it's not, she's fired. Sorry, that's The Apprentice. Sorry Alan.

Is this it?

No, it's just the start. On the TV side I'm doing something special involving kids, but I can't say anything else as it's top secret.